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The syntax of cleft constructions in Japanese: A base-generation analysis

THE SYNTAX OF CLEFT CONSTRUCTIONS IN JAPANESE:
A BASE-GENERATION ANALYSIS
by
Yasuhiko Miura
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES)
May 2011
Copyright 2011 Yasuhiko Miura

The aim of this thesis is to examine the cleft constructions in Japanese, specifically, the CM-Cleft in Japanese, in the hope that it will provide insight into the properties of the Computational System, which is assumed to be at the core of the language faculty. I pursue a base-generation analysis of CM-Cleft in this thesis. I adopt the EPSA (Evaluation of Predicted Schematic Asymmetries) method advocated by Hoji (2009 and subsequent works), which is a method of hypothesis testing in line with the hypothetico-deductive method and it aspires to obtain testability, reproducibility and quantitative analyzability in language faculty science.; Chapter 2 provides a review of previous works on the CM-Cleft in Japanese. The analyses of the CM-Cleft in Japanese proposed in the literature are divided into two types based on how the focus phrase gets to its surface position: "base-generation analysis" and "movement analysis" I present problems posed by each analysis and issues to be addressed. The discussion in this chapter leads to the adoption of the base-generation analysis proposed in Hoji 1987 and his subsequent works.; Chapter 3 introduces the EPSA method, which I will adopt throughout this thesis. I will summarize the methodology and explain some of its important concepts that are crucially relevant to this thesis.; Chapter 4 provides some schematic asymmetries independently established in other works that could be regarded as having been confirmed, together with the relevant experimental designs and results. They will be the basis for the experiments on CM-Cleft conducted in the following chapters.; Chapter 5 presents a base-generation analysis of CM-Cleft pursued in this thesis in line with Hoji 1987, 1990. Based on the analysis, I will make predictions in regard to BVA (Bound Variable Anaphora) and DR (Distributive Reading) and conduct experiments. The results of the experiments are in favor of the proposed analysis. The proposed analysis, however, cannot account for all the BVA facts, so that I will make some modifications on the proposed analysis by introducing two new hypotheses. I will then show that the predicted schematic asymmetries about BVA obtained based on these two hypotheses get confirmed. Thus, the results of the experiments provide support for the proposed analysis.; Chapter 6 provide two arguments for the base-generation analysis over the movement analysis of the CM-Cleft, which are based on NSE (Neg(ation)-sensitive elements) "licensing" and possibility of resumption in CM-Cleft. I will show that the base-generation analysis proposed in this work, but not the movement analysis, can account for these phenomena, thereby giving support to the proposed analysis.; Chapter 7 concludes the discussion, recapitulating the base-generation analysis of the CM-Cleft proposed in this thesis. I also discuss the significance of this work in the light of the pursuit in generative grammar.

THE SYNTAX OF CLEFT CONSTRUCTIONS IN JAPANESE:
A BASE-GENERATION ANALYSIS
by
Yasuhiko Miura
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES)
May 2011
Copyright 2011 Yasuhiko Miura